Storytime Fun: Reading at a Young Age

Children are preparing to read long before they enter school. Every experience your child has with books during the first five years lays the foundation for learning to read. Educators call this "early literacy", and chances are you're doing it without even being aware.

Here are some ideas:

• Make time to read with your child every day. Even five minutes allows cuddle time and emphasizes the importance and fun of books.
• Let books be an option during playtime. Put a couple on the shelf with the puzzles and LEGOs.
• Try out nursery rhymes. "Baa, baa black sheep" and "Jack and Jill" introduce vocabulary and the rhythm makes them easy to memorize.
• Point out letters in the stores you're in. "Look, there's a 'g' at the beginning of that word, just like in 'Grammie'."
• Come to library storytime! We deliberately include pre-literacy skills in lapsit and preschool storytime.

Educators talk about the six essential pre-literacy skills.

• Vocabulary: knowing the names of things. A five year old can know between 3,000 and 5,000 words.
• Print motivation. Does your child enjoy and value books? Hint: seeing you read regularly will reinforce reading's value.
• Print awareness. Reading follows a lot of rules. Does your child turn pages one at a time? "Read" right-to-left and top-to-bottom?
• Narrative skills. Encourage your child to describe a favorite story instead of listening to you read.
• Letter knowledge. Letters have names and make different sounds. Draw letters in sand or point out and read signs.
• Phonological awareness. Knowing that words are made up of sounds. The ability to rhyme is one indication of this. Try making up nonsense words by substituting a letter at the beginning of a word: ant, cant, pant, rant, sant, mant, dant.